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CRC is a 501c3 non-profit nature center and wildlife hospital founded in 1987. In its first few years, the educational programs of the Raptor Center only took birds to schools and public events, but in early 1994, CRC moved to its current location on a wooded hillside in southeast Eugene and opened to the public.

CRC's Mission: Through wildlife rehabilitation and public education, Cascades Raptor Center fosters a connection between people and birds of prey. Our goal is to help the human part of the natural community learn to value, understand, and honor the role of wildlife in preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest.

To accomplish this, CRC has two primary means:

Public Education designed to enhance the awareness, respect, appreciation, and care of the earth and all its inhabitants so critical for a balanced and healthy planet. CRC uses live, permanently disabled/non-releasable birds, along with visual media and written material, to create a positive, first-hand experience of wildlife through on-site visits to the Nature Center and off-site presentations and exhibits at schools and public events.

Rehabilitation and release of orphaned, sick, and injured wildlife, primarily birds of prey (raptors), using the highest standards of medical treatment and care, and the best facilities possible.

This we know: the earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth. All things are connected like blood which unites one family. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth. Humanity does not weave the web of life; we are merely strands in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

- Attributed to Chief Seattle, Duwamish

Our Philosophy - Because we are both an educational and a medical facility, we have some important distinctions to make. We conduct public education activities both and on and off-premises. The Nature Center is open to members and the general public six days a week, as well as by appointment or for field trips and group tours on other days or at other times. We also have an annual Earth Day Open House in the Spring, when the whole facility is open to visitors. However, only the non-releasable birds are viewable; the rehabilitation birds are never on display, even to their finders who might want to see how they are doing or to volunteers' family or other visitors.

The birds come first at CRC, and the hospital patients are stressed by contact with humans. Staff interaction with them is kept to a bare minimum and the hospital, mouse and chick buildings, and outside rehabilitation cages are always off limits to visitors. Besides the stress to the birds from human contact, it is also against the law to display wildlife undergoing rehabilitation. The Nature Center's permanent resident, non-releasable birds are held under special permits for educational purposes and their large outside enclosures allow them to keep a distance from visitors.